Optoelectronic components comprising a housing and a semiconductor chip are known, for example, from German Patent Publication No. DE 10 2005 020 908 A1. The housing body is in this case produced by casting around two connecting parts with a suitable casting compound, the semiconductor chip being arranged on one of the connecting parts.
Silicone has, in particular, the advantage of high-temperature stability and UV radiation resistance, but has the disadvantage of low mechanical breaking strength and high material costs in comparison with, for example, epoxide. Epoxide, on the other hand, although it has good thermal stability and low material costs, nevertheless has poor UV radiation resistance.
In the case of conventional optoelectronic components comprising housings made of epoxide, ageing effects due to UV irradiation can occur in the housing material, essentially on the surfaces and to a lesser extent in the bulk material. Such ageing effects are for example yellowing, discoloration, embrittlement, cracking of the housing material, as well as delamination of adhering casting material. These ageing effects may, for example, result from the radiation emitted by the semiconductor chip. Conventional components are therefore limited in their lifetime, particularly when it is necessary for the functional integrity of a component that the surface of the housing material remains intact, for instance when a lens or the like is adhesively bonded on. The ageing effects detrimentally affect the look and appearance as well as the mechanical stability. While in the case of conventional black epoxide as housing material a brightness loss cannot occur owing to the ageing effects, such can be the case with non-black, in particular light or white epoxide. The lifetime may in this case be defined for example as the time taken for the brightness of the radiation emitted by the component to fall to a defined fraction of the initial value.